For the Brave
by CNGB
Summary: Four young boys take a trip into the Forbidden Forest, only to discover the monsters that rested within.


It was a terribly cold November afternoon, and James Potter was horribly bored. For him, such a thing could almost be counted as rare - but alas, the one thing that made him being bored _not quite rare_ happened thrice every week: History of Magic with Professor Binns, a who-knows-how-long dead man. He was also an excessively _boring_ dead man, if you can believe it.

Two of James' best friends were sleeping, with Sirius sprawled almost elegantly in his seat and Peter drooling and twitching every few moments. Remus, being the Designated Note-Taker of History of Magic, was paying close attention to the droning noises coming from Binns' throat. James himself was doodling on a scrap of parchment. The drawings were meant to be lions, fearsome and powerful, but he wasn't sure if they looked more like a particularly fluffy house cat or a poodle.

"Basil Flack was voted into office in the year of 1752," droned Binns, "and retired in the same year when the werewolves allied themselves with the goblins in the rebellion. . . ."

James sighed and started poking Sirius with the sharp end of his quill. The other boy woke up with a snort and glared, bleary-eyed, at his friend.

"Time to leave?" he asked, stretching.

"No," whispered James. "And keep your voice down."

Sirius scowled. "What'd you wake me for, if we're not leaving?"

"I need someone to talk to."

"You sound like one of those ditzy fourth-year girls."

"Oh, shut it. I _mean_ I need to talk to you about what we're going to do tonight."

"And now you _really_ sound like one of those ditzy fourth-year girls."

X

It wasn't until midway-through supper that James realized what he wanted to do that night, and Sirius caught on to his silent excitement almost immediately.

"Okay, what are you hiding?"

"I'm not _hiding_ anything," said James. "I've only just had a very wonderful plan, and you all will simply have to wait till we get into the dormitory before you hear it."

"I don't know," murmured Remus.

"Pah," said Sirius. "You haven't even _heard_ what his plans are yet! You know as well as I do that you'll have a blast as soon as we're out the room."

As he always did, Remus attempted to deny, and as they always did, the rest of them pretended to believe him.

"What will we be doing, James?" asked Peter, bouncing a bit in his seat.

Sirius rolled his eyes, but James smiled and said, "Hexing McGonagall, of course. What else would we be doing?"

Peter suddenly looked rather anxious.

"He's only ribbing you, Peter."

"Our Lupin," Sirius sniffed. "Always the reassuring one."

The rest of the conversation continued with much bantering and laughter, and when Peter said that he was worried he would fail the Transfiguration test that Friday Remus reassured him that he would help him study while James and Sirius picked on him for caring.

Then, finally, they were all full and James led the way to the seventh floor, nearly skipping in the anticipation he was trying so desperately to hold back.

When the four boys were safely in their dormitory and the door was closed, James told them all to sit down with the distinct air of a man about to lay out a battle plan to his troops. Peter sat at the edge of his bed, looking as though he was ready to jump up and down from sheer excitement at a moment's notice. Remus, by far the most patient of the four, sat with his knees pulled towards his chest. Sirius, being Sirius, did not sit at all but instead leaned against the wall, smiling and waiting in silent anticipation for his best friend's scheme.

"Men," James began, "it has come to my attention that we have yet to explore the Forbidden Forest."

Sirius smirked. "Oh Potter, have you only just _now_ realized that? It hasn't been going anywhere, you know. I for one have been wondering when you would catch on."

James opened his mouth to retort, but Remus interrupted.

"The Forest is forbidden for a reason . . . are you sure we ought to be going in there?"

"You worry too much, Lupin," Sirius said, but he was smiling. "No need to fret. I'm very certain that there's nothing in there to worry about."

Remus nodded his head, though he did not look at all assured.

Nor, in fact, did Peter. "Must we?" he squeaked. "I'm not sure that's a good idea at all, James."

"Nonsense. I have nothing but good ideas."

So it was that on that weekend the four boys gathered under James' Invisibility Cloak late into the night and began their journey. The grounds of the castle were spooky, as the moon was but a crescent in the night sky and gifted them with very little light. It was a lucky thing, surely, that James and Remus were smaller than Sirius and Peter, for there would be no way that all of them could fit quite as comfortably as they did had that not been the case.

"Let's get this thing off," grunted Sirius as they finally went inside the forest. He pulled the Cloak off, wadded it as tightly and messily as he could, and handed it to James. "Who wants to lead?" he asked happily.

"Think that'll be me," said James, pocketing the Cloak. _"Lumos."_

Peter quickly scampered behind James, very nearly clinging to his elbow. It was clear that he dd not feel safe.

"Shall I take the rear, or you?" asked Remus.

"I will," said Sirius.

It was in that fashion that they marched, quietly, with James and Sirius' wand lights protecting them from the shadows. None of them said anything, for they feared scaring off any creatures they might otherwise interact with, and though they were loathe to admit it - James and Sirius in particular - the forest was, perhaps, a bit too scary for raucous laughter anyhow.

They pressed on and on until they were well into the forest, perhaps even nearing the very heart - though James doubted that. It was not until they were all growing rather weary and, in Sirius' case, bored, that a sound could be hear d to the boys' right.

"What was that?" cried Peter.

"Hush!" scolded Sirius. It was almost impossible to detect the note of nervousness in his voice.

They waited, holding their breaths to avoid unnecessary noise, for what must have been at least one full minute.

"Shall we go see, then?" asked James. He did not let his friends say no, and instead veered off the path. He did not worry that they wouldn't follow. Peter would be too afraid without him there, Remus would be concerned that James would be getting himself into too much danger, and Sirius wouldn't want to miss out on the fun.

"Good job, Potter. Always nice to know you're not afraid to lead us to our timely deaths."

"Shut it, Sirius, or you'll scare it away!"

"Deaths?" hissed Peter.

"Don't worry," said Remus absently. "We won't die."

Sirius hummed and seemed as though he was about to say something else, but instead halted in his tracks. _"Stand still!" _he hissed, and the urgency in his voice commanded that the other three whip around to face him. He himself stood ram-rod still, straight as any board, his ear upturned a bit in the hope that he would hear whatever it was he had heard once again.

After a moment of silence, James sighed. "You're going mad, Sirius. You didn't hear anyth -"

But he must have, for it was at that moment that they all heard a distinct rustling sound.

_A unicorn_, James thought wildly as he backed up. But no. Unicorns didn't make that kind of noise.

The rustling sounded again, and the boys took another step back. Peter squealed and Remus looked almost as though he had walked into his worst nightmare. From the light of the wands Peter could see that Sirius was pale and his eyes were alight with fear.

It was Sirius' fear, more than anything else, that forced a sudden calm to descend upon James. He cleared his throat, forced himself to stand up straight, and said, "Wands at the ready, chaps. Peter, do us a favor and be our light."

The skittish boy fumbled for a few seconds that lasted few hours, but eventually they all had light to see by, however shaky due to the wizard's hand that light might have been.

It was then that they seen a leg come out from behind a tree. It was long - perhaps as long as James - and furry, its hairs matted together in something truly sickening that may or may not have been blood. The joints were bent so that it reminded him of all the insects he had examined when he was a younger boy.

For a few seconds they were all too afraid to move, to breathe, but then the leg moved closer and a body emerged.

Peter only just managed to stifle his yell.

Nearly half of its body was visible from Peter's light, and they hardly needed to see the rest of it to guess. Its entire being was covered in long, coarse hair, all of which seemed to be matted and dirty. Its eyes were pupil-less and glowed a golden hue, and its tail was a great, big, long _thing_ that quite looked as though it was capable of knocking the wind out of a grown man with one swipe. Its face angular, its ears rounded, and its fangs were grotesquely yellow and sharp. None of them needed to be told that this was a dangerous creature, a predator, and they were the prey.

"W-what is that? R-Remus? What _is_ that?" whispered Peter. James felt it was a miracle that he was able to talk at all.

"I-I th-think . . . I think that's a blood-sucking bugbear. It looks like the ones in our Defense books, anyhow," Remus said.

"Uh-huh," croaked Sirius. "And how do we _kill_ this bloody thing?"

Remus tilted his head slightly in Sirius' direction, which was the most he was willing to do when faced with a potential death. "I'm not sure."

The creature shook its great body and Peter squeaked and backed up. James stiffened and, just as soon as it began to advance slowly, yelled, _"Stupefy!"_

The hex collided with the bugbear's head, making it lose its balance. Its furry legs nearly crumpled to the ground as the four boys watched in morbid fascination. After four attempts, the monster was able to stand up for longer than a couple of seconds.

"Dammit. _S-Stupefy! Stupefy!_" howled Sirius.

They hit their target consecutively, and the bugbear crumpled to the ground completely. For a moment none of them dared to move, but then Peter said, "Is it dead?"

"No," answered James. "No, it isn't dead. It's merely Stunned."

"We need to get out of here," said Remus. "We don't know how long that will last."

"Always the voice of reason, aren't you?" mumbled Sirius.

"Let's not waste time talking!" said James. It had just occurred to him that they were just feet away from a _blood-sucking_ monster. "Let's get out of hear! Peter, Remus, I want the two of you to be our lights this time. Now run!"

And so they did run. They ran as fast as they were able to - which was actually quite fast, as they were four terrified children. Terrified children had a tendency to run very fast if something scared them enough. Thrice Peter nearly fell behind (perhaps, he was simply not that terrified), and Remus nearly fell from tripping over branches, but after what was at least a little less than half an hour passed their ears picked up the sounds of more rustling; they were being followed.

"Turn around!" yelled James as he spun a full one-eighty. The adrenalin was getting to him, and he was holding his wand so tightly that, had he had a clearer mind, he would have been surprised it was not snapping. The bugbear was running to them, chasing them, and it did not take a mind the like of Albus Dumbledore to know that something like that would be much faster than them - faster even than James, and he was the fastest boy out of all the first-years combined.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed suit. Sirius snarled and held his wand like a man who had reached the end of his patience and was ready to punish his annoyance. Peter and Remus stood side-by-side, making sure that there was enough light to not only see the monster that was about to reach them, but also to ensure that nothing else came out to attack.

The bugbear's legs were scuttling so swiftly that a distant part of him wondered how it did not trip over anything. Within half a minute it came into the clearing, its eyes bloodshot with what must have been anger and frustration at letting its prey nearly escape. When it seen the four boys clearly it stopped so suddenly that it lurched and for a moment James truly did think it would lose balance, but it righted itself quickly.

The thing made a low, vicious growling sound and sprang into action.

"_Stupefy!"_ said James.

The bugbear must have possessed an amount of intelligence that was higher than what they had guessed, because it moved out of the hex's way.

"_Stupefy! Stupefy!"_ James yelled again, but the monster managed to continue to evade its attacks.

"_Petrificus Totalus!"_ bellowed Sirius, and that time the spell landed on its intended target. Specifically, it landed on the legs, which was just as well because it seemed to be stuck.

James smirked, but even to him it did not feel very real. "Very nice, mate."

Sirius shrugged and attempted to don his lazy grin. " 'Very nice?' I just saved your sorry arse and all I get is _'very nice'_?"

"_Nox,"_ said Remus. He then pointed his wand to the beast and said, _"Stupefy!"_

It then occurred to James that he did not want to give the bugbear time for its leg to return to its former glory, and so he aided his friend in Stunning it once more. Sirius cast another Petrifying jinx so that its entire body was rendered immobile, and the four of them stood there in the clearing, their chests heaving, their adrenaline slowing to a halt, their wand hands shaking and their brows glistening with nervous sweat.

"W-we need to g-get going," said Peter at last.

"Yes," agreed Remus, and he lit his wand again and began to lead the way.

James reflected briefly that it was strange for Remus to lead them anywhere.

They did not get very far, for just a few moments into their journey back to the castle the creature's - friends? family? - caught up with them. Peter let out a disgusted yelp and Sirius roared, fairly frustrated with the turn-out of their adventure. He began to hurl hex after hex towards the advancing nightmares, but every time one fell another emerged from the depths of the forest.

Hooves. James heard hooves. Running. He was about to turn around to face whatever other monster was coming from the opposite direction, but before he was even able to an arrow zipped past him and his friends and struck one of the bugbears squarely in the head, so that it collapsed in a terrible, awful heap.

It was then that James seen him: a particularly no-nonsense looking centaur, with blond hair that was very nearly white that reached his shoulders, pale skin and white fur, and a great big bow with several sharp-looking arrows that were clearly the boys' savior.

The centaur sent another arrow whistling by and it hit one of the bugbears in the chest. Blood splattered everywhere around it and if James was suddenly found himself rather thankful that the monster hadn't been closer to them.

"Don't just stand there like a dolt, James!" said Sirius as he sent another hex to one of the bugbears. "Do something, why don't you?"

Sirius' proclamation seemed to wake all of them up. Both James and Remus aided the centaur and Sirius in the defense (though none of the boys aimed to kill), and even Peter sent a few jinxes flying, as the waxing moon was bright enough to light the treeless clearing.

Thankfully, it did not take long for the centaur to kill the bugbears - not even a full minute. Though when he was finished there must have been at least eight of the bodies strewn across the earth.

The centaur put his bow safely away and trotted neatly up to them.

"The forest," he said in a stern voice that vaguely reminded James of McGonagall, "is no place for children. What are you doing here?"

For a moment none of them said a word, but then James cleared his throat.

"We were exploring, sir. I know it was a foolish thing to go and do, and I'm sorry. Thank you so much for helping us."

"You need to leave," he said. The tone of his voice did not change at all. "Now. Do you know your way back to the castle?"

"Yep!" said Sirius sunnily. He pointed his finger past the centaur . "Thatta-way."

"No," the centaur said. "It is to the west. Follow me. I will show you the way."

The boys shared bewildered looks with one another but did not question the centaur any further on his judgments on direction. It was rather obvious that he knew his way around the Forbidden Forest far better than a bunch of kids did. On they went, and it did not take terribly long for James to begin to recognize landmarks that he had seen on their way in.

"So . . ." said Sirius. He never had been one to keep quiet. "What's your name, sir?"

For what seemed like a solid minute, the centaur did not answer. James could feel the annoyance growing within his best friend even if the trees covered up the light of the moon so that he was unable to see it behind his eyes. But then, the centaur answered. "I am Itylus, a centaur of this forest. You need to know no more."

"Yes, I guess not," said Sirius, a bit grumpily.

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what were you doing there? Of course, I'm so glad you were, but. . . ."

Itylus did not turn his neck around to look at James, but then, the boy had not expected him to. "I was there because I was hunting the bugbears. They are becoming very bothersome for some of the other inhabitants of the forest and have begun to get out of control. As Hagrid does nothing, we must do something.

"And here is where I leave you."

"_Here?"_ Peter yelped. James had not known it was possible for his voice to get any higher than what it had before, but there was evidence of the contrary. "B-b-but this is the middle of the forest! Wha if one of those th-_things_ come back to eat us?"

Itylus fixed his cold gaze upon Peter, and James found himself grateful that he was not the subject of such a glare. "This is not the middle of the forest, and I assure you that you will not find any of the blood-sucking bugbears here. Now go straight forward and hurry to the castle."

And with that, the centaur bounded off, leaving the four boys to their own devices.

X

Although they talked much of Itylus and their adventure, there was a particular recurring thought that James had that he shared with none of his friends - not Sirius, who he was easily closest to, and not Remus, who was unarguably the best person to talk to about ones troubles. But then, the thought was not exactly troubling.

Itylus was brave.

He had swept in and killed the evil monsters that threatened to harm children and led said children back to safety. He had risked his own life - though, if James was being perfectly honest, he would have stacked the odds in favor of a centaur over a bugbear any day, but still - for four children he had never even _seen_ before. Had he been afraid? Angry? He had been stern about the boys returning to the castle, certainly, but he had not appeared either scared or mad. Perhaps he had not been, then. . . .

But was James brave?

He wanted so desperately to say he was. After all, his father was the bravest man he knew, and James very much wanted to be like his father. Yet there had been a few times in the forest where he had stood, motionless, and let fear override his sense - however briefly that might have been. Somehow James did not think that that qualified very much for courage.

_But then_, he reasoned, _people can change._

If he wasn't brave, then he was still put in the House of Gryffindor for a reason. Clearly the Hat seen within him the potential to be brave.

And so he would be.


End file.
